News Bits: $378 Laptop, Dell AMD Notebook, Nascar Laptop, New Inspiron B130

The $378 HP ze2308wm Laptop Wal Mart Friday Special

The rumor was for a $398 Wal Mart laptop, but the price might be even lower for where you are.  In many areas the HP Pavilion ze2308wm 15″ screen notebook will be sold for $378.  Wal Mart will be selling this laptop on FRIDAY 11/25 IN STORE ONLY (NOT ONLINE).  It’s important to note, some Wal Marts are not honoring this price, you’ll need to Click here to see the Wal Mart ad for you area and type in your zip code to see what the price is at stores near you.  Also, Wal Mart employees are saying that inventories are very low on this notebook, one Super Wal Mart has 25 of the notebooks and another regular Wal Mart has only 13 so it’s going to be tough to get if a lot of people know about it in your area.

The specs will be:

• AMD Mobile Sempron 2800+ processor (1.6GHz)
• 256MB DDR SDRAM memory
• 40GB 4200RPM hard drive
• CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive
• 802.11b/g wireless built-in
• 15-inch TFT XGA screen

I’m actually surprised it has built-in wireless 802.11b/g at that price.  256MB of RAM is really poor and you’d definitely want to upgrade that, but that’s a cheap upgrade and you simply won’t beat this deal — anywhere.

Here’s a review of the HP ze2000z notebook (similar to what Wal Mart is selling): HP ze2000z Notebook Review

For more Notebook Deals and discussion on this visit the NotebookReview.com Notebook Deals Forum

Dell AMD Processor Notebook Rumors Continue

There’s been a lot of talk lately about Dell incorporating AMD processors into its PCs and notebooks.  AMD is gaining ground against Intel in overall sales of processors and Dell is sort of the last large manufacturer that AMD has yet to crack inside of.  DigiTimes.com reports that ODM manufacturers in Taiwan have received instructions from Dell to prepare for the manufacturing of AMD based processor servers and notebooks.  In particular, Quanta computer has received orders for an AMD based notebook from Dell:

“The paper also stated that Quanta is in the process of designing notebook models based on AMD processors and that the three contract makers were informed by Dell that shipments of AMD-supporting PCs will need to be ready for a global debut anytime in the future.”

More: http://www.digitimes.com/systems/a20051121PR205.html

Initial Yonah Processor Clock Speed Details

The Inquirer revealed the clock speeds and naming for the upcoming Intel Pentium M processors.  Below is a table of the chips that will be initially available in notebooks starting in January.  The DC stands for “Dual Core” while the SC means “Single Core”.  Notice the FSB speed has taken a step up from 533MHz, the fastest speed of 2.16GHz is no faster than what is currently available, but keep in mind it’s the dual core component that’s going to give the greatest speed boost and not the actual clock speed.

	No.	GHz	FSB	Cache	Price
Yonah DC	T2600	2.16	667	2MB	$640
Yonah DC	T2500	2	667	2MB	$420
Yonah DC	T2400	1.83	667	2MB	$295
Yonah DC	T2300	1.66	667	2MB	$240
Yonah SC	T1300	1.66	667	2MB	$210
Yonah LV DC	L2400	1.66	667	2MB	$325
Yonah LV DC	L2300	1.5	667	2MB	$285

More: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27770

Laser Etched Apple PowerBook

People are always looking for ways to customize their notebooks and make them look a little different.  If you have a metal cover laptop and just so happen to have access to a laser etching machine then checkout what they’ve done over at makezine.com with the Apple PowerBook:

http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2005/11/laser_etched_powerbook.html

Nascar Branded AMD Turion 64 Notebook

Yee ha!  It’s a Nascar branded notebook at CompUSA, and the specs on this notebook are actually quite good, but the manufacturer that makes it, Cisnet, is completely unknown.  You get a notebook with loads of Nascar stickers on the outside and the Windows XP even has built-in Nascar branded skins.

You get a free Nascar optical mouse with it, and rumor has it a free bottle of Jack Daniels also (kidding on that last one).

• AMD Turion 64 Mobile Technology ML-30
• 512 MB RAM
• 80 GB Hard Drive
• ATI Integrated Graphics
• DVDRW
• 802.11 b/g Wireless
• PCMCIA/IEEE 1394
• Memory Card Reader
• Modem/Ethernet
• NASCAR PC branded Logitech Mouse
• MS Windows XP Home w/ NASCAR PC branded Skins

Link to Product: http://www.compusa.com/specials/nascarpc/default.asp?credir=1

New Dell Inspiron B130, Dell Inspiron 1300 and Dell Inspiron 710m Released

Dell Inspiron 710m (Canada Dell website)

Dell Inspiron B130 (USA Dell website)

Dell released a couple of new notebooks, the Inspiron B130 is sold in the USA and the Inspiron 1300 is sold in Canada & Europe but are exactly the same notebook.  They’re 15″ widescreen budget style laptops.  We’ll be reviewing the B130 (same as Inspiron 1300) next month.

The Inspiron 710m is simply the 700m with an updated look, there’s no white finish around the edges of the 710m, it’s all silver.  Other than that, the notebook is the same as the 700m.

Dell Inspiron 710m (notice the white area the 700m had is now gone)

The new Dell Inspiron B130 (in the USA) / Dell Inspiron 1300 (in the Canada and Europe)